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Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Lemongrass Chicken and Thai Vegetables

This past week, my mother in law told me that she had a lemongrass plant outside that she had never used to cook with.

Being a lover of Asian lemongrass flavorings, I decided to make dinner with it one night. I couldn't find any recipes that I loved, so I took some basic ingredients and combined them to make a lemongrass chicken with stir-fry vegetables.

First, I clipped a couple long lemongrass leaves, and washed them thoroughly, and cut them in half. Next I trimmed up my chicken breasts, cut in smaller halves, and sprinkled with garlic salt.

Next, I wrapped the chicken breasts in the lemongrass leaves and placed them in a shallow baking dish. I threw in a Thai Chili for a little flavor.

Next, I poured in about half a can of coconut milk and some lime peel (I use the rest of the limes later), and baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

While the chicken was cooking, I filled a skillet with white onions, green onions, broccoli, red peppers, portobella mushrooms, and about 1tsp of thai chili sauce to give a little more flavor.

As the vegetables heated up, I added a little sesame oil (1 Tbsp) and just a dash of soy sauce (about 1 tsp). I like the fresh flavors of the vegetables, so I don't like a ton of sauce with them.

Once the chicken breasts are cooked, I took them out of the pan while I prepared the rice (Uncle Ben's 90 second brown rice).

Simply take the package of brown rice and rip open the top according to the directions. Add 2 Tbsp of the leftover coconut milk, and cook in the microwave for 90 seconds. Transfer to a bowl and stir well. Use the remaining lime, cut in wedges, to lightly juice the rice. Top with the lemongrass chicken and vegetables for a delicious meal!

When I make this again, I think I may marinate the chicken overnight in a coconut milk and lemongrass mixture, and then remove the chicken and cook them alone in a pan. The chicken had great flavor... definite lemongrass flavoring that was subtle, and the coconut milk was not overpowering, but the coconut milk was just a little more congealed than I had anticipated. I may also throw some lemongrass in with the vegetables next time too!

Let me know if you have a good lemongrass based recipe to try... I am all about experimenting with this!